I am an artist who loves teaching. I believe that drawing what you See is the secret to great painting. Here I share some of my paintings and lots of my students artworks - straight from my studio to yours. More info on courses & my instruction book ‘Notes from The Atelier’ on my website www.juliedouglas.co.uk
Contact me on julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Friday, 18 January 2013

Hands in pen, Glass in Colour pencil and Pastel

So far this month my classes have been using pencil and pen, and next week we'll get back to some water colour. I decided to tackle two difficult subjects in one session - hands (which are not the easiest thing to draw, but better than feet!) and glass. In fact, nothing is easier or more difficult to draw than anything else, it is our perception that makes it seem that way. So, to make it more intense, we did hands in pen - no going back, only adding more!

Helena, student

Geraldine and Nisa, students

There was a mixed reaction when I said 'pen', but my students are so very well behaved that they just gulped and... JUMPED RIGHT IN! Excellent. I'll take more photos to add.

Linda A, student

Working like this for an hour, realizing that you can alter and change and 'correct' by adding more lines, not by rubbing out, simultaneously 'loosens' any anxieties you might have about tackling this subject (just the opposite of what you might expect) and gets you in the right frame of mind to move on to chalk pastels for a large study of glass. I am often asked how to draw glass, particularly by Distance Learning students. The answer is to place the glass into an environment of Colour. For this study I put the glasses onto a CD, two apparently colourless objects, but we ended up with the most amazing rainbow! (although you can't tell from the photos, none of the colours in the drawings were 'invented' - this is what we could see in the CD).

June and Helena, Students

Nisa and Geraldine

Jayne and Deirdre, students (work in progress)

I was so pleased that everyone believed what was in front of them. The studies were a mix of pastel with colour pencil - I discovered that colour pencil will actually 'smudge' along with pastel, in a way that it doesn't when used alone.

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About Me

I am an artist with a commitment to Drawing and a passion for teaching. I am fascinated by the way we learn. I am a tutor for the London Art College, (colour pencil and pastels courses, beginners drawing and painting, and Diploma course), I teach Drawing at the University of Ulster and was drawing and Visual Comunications tutor for 1st Yr at Limerick School of Art and Design. But most of my workshops are run at home or round and about for small groups of enthusiastic learners, classes are great fun (though hard work...!) with wonderful results. I teach through praise, not criticism. I also run my own Distance Learning Programme which includes four workshops a year, in Ireland. My favourite word is DELICIOUS. And YES! My favourite Pair of words are THANK YOU.
website www.juliedouglas.co.uk
email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk